Telephone-switch



2 Sheets-Sheet 1. L. ANDERS,

Telephone Switch.

No. 23 ,019.. Patented Feb. 22,1891,

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G.'L. ANDERS. Telephone Switch.

No. 238,019; Patented Feb. 22, 1881 Witnesses Inventor:

UNTTED STATES ATENT Trice.

TELEPHONE-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 238,019, dated February 22, 1881.

Application filed March 31, 1879.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE LEE ANDERs,

. of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Switches for Telephones, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to the instrument to which are attached the telephones as well as the signaling mechanism belonging to each of the several stations.

I am aware of the system described in Doolittles Patent, No. 209,115, for preventing a telephonic message between any two stations from being heard or picked up at any orall of the other stations, and in which the stations in use are disconnected from the others by the act of putting the said two in connection; and I am also aware that Watson, in Patent N 0. 209,592, has shown a contrivance in the use of which the mere act of taking up the telephone for use and the replacing or dropping it after use automatically changes the switch to place either the telephone or bell in circuit, or operate the circuit-closin g portion to place the telephone in circuit or cut it out of circuit, and I claim neither of these inventions, my invention consisting in a mere mechanical contrivance by which the same lever that operates at any one station, by the transfer of the weight of one of the telephones to place the bell at that station in or out of the circuit, may be made to also throw the telephones of that station into connection with the telephones on either side of that station without connecting them with those on the other side.

The peculiar call-bell of which I make use to illustrate in part the double office of my switch is the subject of another application for a patent of even date, and forms no part of the present invention, except as standing for any ordinary calLbell.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of the instrument used at each of the bell-stations to carry out my invention. Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional elevations of the same. Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating the different circuits.

A is a wooden table or bracket.

B is a metallic frame secured to the table by screws a a, as shown.

0 is an electro-magnet secured to the frame B by two screws, b b.

D is the bell mounted on the bell-post E, the latter rising between the two spools of the electro-magnet from a cross-bar of the frame B, into which it is screwed.

F is a soft-iron armature swinging on two pins, 0 c, in the frame B, and carrying the bellhammer H, as shown. A set-screw, d, limits the backward play of the soft-iron armature.

G is a polarized armature swinging on apin, e, which has hearings in the bell-post, and a bent arm, f, extending therefrom, as shown. At the lower end of the polarized armature is a projection, g, which stands in the path of the arm of the bell-hammer, or not, accordingly as the current is in one direction or the other.

J is a slot on the under side of the table, across the rear end of which ametallic bar, K, is secured by screws.

To the bar K, at h, is pivoted a metallic spring-plate, L, having a tongue, Z, and to the plate L is rigidly secured aninsulated metallic hook, M, upon which one of the telephones is to be hung when not in use.

N and P are two metallic plates of irregular shape, so secured to the table as to project across the front of the slot J, as shown.. The lower edge of each of these plates hasa shoulder, as shown, against one or the other of which shoulders the tongue Z presses by force of the spring-plate L when the telephone is not hung upon the hook M, the tongue I being so shaped that it can touch at the same time but one of the plates N or P. The pivot h, however, permits the tongue Z to be turned decidedly to one side or the other, for a purpose to be hereinafter explained. The curved shape of the upper edges of the platesNand P causes the hook M to come to the center and rest upon both plates, thus making metallic connection between the two when the telephone hangs on the hook and overcomes the force of the springplate L. WVhen the hook is in this last-named position the tongue lis in contact with neither plate N P, and when the tongue is in. contact with either plate the hook is in contact with neither.

R is a knob upon the upper end of a rod 1", the other end of which is rigidly attached to the front end of a spring-plate, S, whose rear end is secured to the table by screws s s. The free end of the spring-plate S has a short arm which presses against a metallic pin, it, so

driven into the table as to be in contact with one of the screws to by which the plate P is secured to the table. The connection between the spring-plate S and pin t may be broken by pressing upon the knob R.

O is the lightning-arrester, secured to the front of the table, as shown. It is connected by a wire with screw-cup 3, which, as will be seen hereinafter, has connection with the ground. The apparatus shown has seven screw-cups, markedl 2 3 4 5 6 7. To avoid confusion in the drawings the wires are not shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, but the connections are sufficiently illustrated by the diagram at Fig. 5, where the screw-cups are numbered and other parts lettered, as in the other figures. In addition, T T represent the two telephones.

For convenience, I term that part of the linewire lying on one side of the instrument the in-wire, and in like manner call the linewireupon the other side ofthe station the outwire. The in-wire is connected with screwcup 1, the out-wire with screw-cup 2, and the ground wire with screw cup 3, as shown. Screw-cup 1 is connected by a wire with plate N, and screw-cup 2 is connected by a wire with one end of the coils of the electro-magnet O, the other end being connected by a wire with the spring-plate S, which, we have seen, is in metallic connection with plate P by means of pin t and screw to. Screw-cups 4 and 5 are in connection by means of the wires of one of the telephones, and in like manner screw-cups 6 and 7 are connected by the wires of the other telephone, while screw-cups 5 and 6 are connected directly by a wire. Screw-cup 7 is connected by a wire with cross-bar K, thus making metallic connection with tongue I, through pivot h and spring-plate L. In the diagram at Fig. 5 this connection between screw-cup 7 and tongue Z is shown as if by a wire.

The hook M being down by weight of the telephone, the electric current, entering at screw-cup 1, passes by wire to plate P, screw w, pin it, spring-plate S, to coil 0, and thence out by screw-cup 2 to the other stations. The circuit is now closed and the bell-hammer rests against the bell, the electro-maguet attracting the soft-iron armature; and this is the situation not only in the instrument shown, but in all similarly-constructed instruments on the line. The bell-hammer may be thrown back and then forward again by breaking and making the circuit anywhere on the line-for example, by pushing down the key It. When the telephone is removed from the hook M and the latter is turned to one side, so that the tongue tis caught upon the shoulder in plate N, the telephones T T are in communication with the telephones at the stations on the in-wire, the circuit being from screw-cup l to plate N, as in the signal-circuit; thence through tongue 1, spring-plate L, by wire, to screw-cup 7 thence through the telephones and cups 6,5, 4, and cup 3 to ground, thus cutting out all the stations upon the out-wire from screw-cup2 but if the tongue Z is caught under the shoulder in plate P, the telephones are in communication with the telephones at stations on the out-wire, which enters at cup 2, those on the in-wire being shut out. The circuit is now from screw-cup 2 to the coil; thence through spring-plate S, pin it, and screw to, to plate P; thence through tongue l to ground,as beforethat is, when the telephone is taken from the hook M and the latter is moved to the right or left, the tongue Z catches on the shoulder of the plate N or P, as the case may be, and the telephone-circuit is established in the desired direction and no matter upon which side the hook happens to be it is brought to the center and the electric signal-circuit or main circuit established by merely hanging the telephone upon the hook.

I claim 1. The combination, with a grounded switch and a telephone-support movable with said switch under the weight of a telephone, of contacts connected with the in-wire and out-wire of a telephone-line, and arranged relatively to said switch, as described.

2. The combination, with a spring switchplate, metallic telephone-support attached to but insulated from said switch-plate, of the contact-plates connected with in-wire and outwire, and arranged relatively to said switch and support, substantially as described, so that when the telephone is on the support the plates are electrically connected through it, and when the telephone is removed the switchplate can be brought into contact with either contact-plate, as set forth.

3. The plates N and P, with shoulders and curved upper edges, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

GEORGE LEE ANDERS.

Witnesses:

W. W. SWAN, H. G. OLMSTED. 

